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Political Leaders Arrive in Poland in Race to Deliver on U.N. Climate Deal
Political leaders on Monday began arriving in the Polish coal city of Katowice where two weeks of talks have begun to revive the landmark Paris 2015 deal on climate change as dire warnings mount about a lack of action. Representatives of some of the most powerful countries and biggest polluters will be conspicuous by their absence as the United States has said it is leaving the U.N. process and China was not expected to send its top politicians. [ read more … ]
First Senate vote on FERC nominee tonight
Senate Republicans are looking to confirm President Trump’s controversial pick to fill the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission this week despite Democratic protests that the nominee could undermine renewable energy deployment. The chamber will take a key procedural vote on Bernard McNamee at 5:30 p.m. today, where Republicans will likely have the numbers to push forward the current executive director of the Department of Energy’s Office of Policy. A final roll call may come as soon as Wednesday. [ read more … ]
Policy & Politics
Equinor Dubs New Jersey Offshore Development ‘Boardwalk Wind’
“We wanted a name that spoke to the best of New Jersey, symbolizing one of the beloved attributes of the state,” says Christer af Geijerstam, president of Equinor US Wind. “The boardwalks of the Jersey Shore are an iconic part of the New Jersey economy and experience. The name ‘Boardwalk Wind’ reflects the pride, excitement and joy we feel about being part of New Jersey’s effort to become an economic hub for clean, resilient, homemade energy.” [ read more … ]
Exxon will use wind, solar to produce crude oil in Texas
Exxon Mobil Corp. will use renewable energy to produce oil in West Texas. Under 12-year agreements with Denmark’s Ørsted A/S, Exxon will buy 500 megawatts of wind and solar power in the Permian Basin, the fastest growing U.S. oil field. It is the largest ever renewable power contract signed by an oil company, according to Bloomberg NEF. Terms weren’t disclosed. [ read more … ]
Transmission is latest front in fossil fuels v. renewables battle
Calpine Corp. of Houston and NRG Energy, of Houston and Princeton, N.J., have asked the state Public Utility Commission to change the way transmission costs are apportioned among power generators, a move that wold undo a key element of the policies that have made Texas the nation’s top producer of wind energy. Instead of using state tax credits, Texas has attracted billions of dollars in investment in wind energy by offering generators easy access to the biggest electricity markets through low-cost transmission. [ read more … ]
Belief in global warming grows despite Trump
Climate change skepticism may be alive and well at the White House, but nearly 3 in 4 Americans believe there is “solid evidence” that global warming is occurring, according to new survey data released by Muhlenberg College and the University of Michigan. That 73 percent of respondents agree average atmospheric temperatures are rising reflects growing public confidence in climate science, experts said, especially after 2014, when the Obama administration’s Climate Action Plan resulted in an upwelling of conservative opposition to federal greenhouse gas reduction programs. [ read more … ]
Perry: U.S. won’t hang its head on climate policy
“I think there’s a great story to be told out there in the face of people [saying] the U.S. stepped away and is not committed to the environment. We are. I suggest there is nobody in the world doing as much as the U.S. is,” Perry said. “We don’t have anything to be apologizing to people for,” he said yesterday at a conference sponsored by the Consumer Energy Alliance. [ read more … ]
GM doesn’t care what Trump tweets
A General Motors Co. executive said today the company will forge ahead with electric vehicles, regardless of what President Trump tweets. “We pay a lot of attention to what any president says,” Dan Turton, vice president of North American policy at GM, told an audience at an Edison Electric Institute conference in Washington, D.C. “But the reality is this electrification movement is going forward anyway.” [ read more … ]
Note: News clips provided do not necessarily reflect the views of coalition or its member governors.